Koala and Sabo after Ace's death
by waterproof1993
Summary: My take on how Sabo finds out about Ace's death and how that makes Koala realize how he feels about him. Koala's point of view.
1. Chapter 1

I remember holding him for so many nights now. He fell asleep every time with tears in his eyes. It was as if a cloud had installed over his head and would never go away. At first, he screamed. The first day he knew, the day he remembered, he didn't want to see anybody. He locked himself in his room and, from time to time, you could hear his screams. His pain was like a thousand needles running through my heart, my very soul ached at the thought of him being in so much pain. There must be something I can do, I said to myself. There wasn't.

The day after, he didn't scream. But the silence, although it seemed calmer, was even more painful.

It was the third day, at almost midnight, that I had the courage to enter his room and confront him. He had been in silence all day, like the day before, not crying, not screaming, just quiet. He had to eat at least. And he wasn't going to do it unless someone told him to. I knocked on his door. No answer. I entered anyway. I saw him then, he was sitting on the floor, his back next to the bed. With his arms around his knees. He was wet from top to bottom, part from his tears and part from his sweat. It was hot. Just by the look of his face, I could tell he was very sick. However, what scared me the most was his eyes. The way he looked at me when I entered the room. It was as if he was not seeing me. They looked as if they had no life in them.

I approached him carefully, slowly, trying not to startle him in any way. I put my hand on his forehead to see if he had a fever although I could tell he had one without the need to feel it. He was burning. I then realized he was breathing very fast. I caressed his face trying to soothe him.

"Sabo" I whispered to him, almost in tears.

And then I felt his hand gripping tight on my arm. He was so strong he was hurting me, but I didn't move. He stayed like this for a few seconds when abruptly he began to cry. Everything he had locked in himself the last three days came out like a rainstorm. I hold him like a baby. I petted his head and I told him everything was going to be okay.

He left my shirt soaked with tears. At one point, I managed to put him on the bed. We laid there for hours and eventually he stopped crying. We stayed there though, not speaking, not looking, just holding each other.

In the morning, I left the room while he was still sleeping. I went to make some breakfast for both of us. When I came back, he was in the exactly same position he had when I left, but this time I took the time to gaze at his face. He had the looks of an angel. And his expression was so peaceful I felt bad I had to wake him. I waited for five minutes, not able to take my eyes off of him, until I forced myself to call him. He really needed to eat.

I gently caressed his head running my fingers through his golden hair, and whispered in his ear "Wake up Sabo". I even dared to kiss him on his forehead. He opened his eyes very slowly, a little bit disoriented he looked at me as if not understanding what I was doing there. His eyes were red and sore from all the crying. It looked as if he was going to say something but thought it better and stayed quiet. I had not heard his voice in almost four days now. Except from the sobbing and screaming.

"I brought you breakfast." I said giving him the tray I had left on the table. He looked at it with no intention of eating one bit.

"Look Sabo, I cannot possibly understand what you are going through right now, but we all have suffered in our own way. And we have all gotten over it. You can do it as well. But you need to eat, you won't help yourself in any possible way if you starve yourself to death, so please stop being silly and just eat something."

No reaction whatsoever.

"Sabo, at least help me understand, from what you said three days ago when you read about Ace's death on the newspaper, Ace is your brother right?" He looked at me with anger in his eyes, maybe it wasn't the best way to help him by reminding him of all this. But I had to try everything I could. "And just before you started screaming you said one name. Do you remember?"

Nothing

"You said Luffy" He looked at me. "Everyone says that Mugiwara no Luffy was Ace's brother. Does that mean that Luffy is your brother as well?"

"Luffy" He said. "Luffy's my… little brother" He, then, grabbed a spoon and started eating the food I brought him. I couldn't help sighing in relief. He ate slowly first, one spoon at a time. But the more he ate the more ho realized how hungry he was and he ended up eating with both hands at super speed pace and like an animal. That's more like the normal Sabo, I thought smiling.

Afterwards he started telling me all about him Ace and Luffy. Where they lived, how they met, how they became brothers. At times he smiled, at times he felt silent and sadness would pick through his eyes, at times he was angry. How could he have forgotten all of this? What kind of person that made him? Why had he not been able to save his brother?

"It is all my fault." Said Sabo in the end.

"What? How can it be your fault?" I said to him.

"If I hadn't lost my memories, if I had been there I would have saved him."

"Do you really think you could have made a difference? I think, Sabo, that you cannot change what's in the past. What would have happened? You will never know, so it's best to look forward, and leave the past behind. And besides, Luffy is still alive somewhere right?"

"Right. I want to see him."

"I'm sure you will. Someday. Right now he must be hiding in some place recovering from all his wounds. But he will be okay."

I got up, seeing him better I decided I could leave him for a while, although I wanted to stay with him for as long as I could, but maybe he needed some private time now to sort all of his thoughts out. So I took the tray and said goodbye to Sabo. I asked him if he wanted to have lunch with us. He answered he wasn't ready to meet everyone yet. I respected his decision on the condition that I'd still give him something to eat. He laughed and agreed.

At midday as I promised him I brought him lunch. I checked on his fever and I was relieved to perceive that it was going down. He had showered and his face looked so much better. However, there was still a look of sadness in his eyes and that would only go away with time.

As I was going to leave again he asked to my surprise.

"Will you stay with me tonight as well?"

So he remembered. I thought from the look in his eyes this morning that he had forgotten. I thought the fever was so high yesterday that he had been dizzy all the time and couldn't remember a thing. I was so happy to realize I was wrong.

"If you want me." I answered.

"I do" was all he said. And I spend all afternoon smiling like a fool waiting for the night to come like a child waits for Christmas.


	2. Chapter 2

It became a routine. Each night I would go to Sabo's room without anyone noticing and we would lie there, cuddling. We didn't talk much, it was kind of awkward. We had always been such good friends, but this meant more, and we knew it. We were too scared to put it into words. So we just showed how we felt by our actions. The truth was Sabo's pain had got me to realize how much I wanted him to be ok, how much I wanted him to be happy, and how much I wanted him to be by my side. I know it's selfish to put it that way, but Sabo's pain was what really brought us together.

It was one dark night with no moon in the sky.

I was lying beside him as usual, my arms folded in front of me trying not to touch his chest. His left arm under my head like a pillow and his right arm around me pulling me closer, making me impossible not to touch him. We were both closing our eyes ready to sleep at any time.

After a while, I heard Sabo start to snore very softly. I had already become accustomed to this noise. I even learned to like it. I opened my eyes to see him sleeping. His face was kind of funny with his mouth opened. It made me smile. But again, his peacefulness amazed me. I fixed my eyes on the scar on his face. It was a horrible scar. He had been very lucky not to lose that eye. It's pretty common to have scars being in the Revolutionary Army as we are. But his was a little bit different. He hadn't got the scar fighting. He didn't like talking about it, he thought of the scar as something to be ashamed of.

Anyway, I freed my hand from the prison of both our bodies and raised it up to touch his scar. I don't know why I did it. I just felt like it. I caressed it in the softest way possible trying not to wake him. But it was useless. He moved, startled, and opened his eyes. We stared at each other for a few moments. I did not take away my hand. Actually, he grabbed it with one of his and then he lowered his head until our lips touched. Briefly. Delicately.

I had never been kissed before.

Sabo lifted his head again and looked at me. Maybe he was trying to find out my feelings about it. Maybe he just looked at me to reassure that the feelings were mutual. Or maybe he was just scared at my reaction. But, in any case, what he saw in my face could not be very rejecting, because he took my lips again, more passionately and fiercely this time. Holding me very tightly in his arms. Putting his hands under my shirt tracing every inch of my back, not daring to go any further. I responded locking my hands in his head, tightening my fingers into his blonde hair. Pulling him closer to me. Not letting him go. We weren't even stopping to breathe. His tongue invaded my mouth as a warm feeling started running over my body. Our lips were pulling each other until they got swollen.

I had never felt like this.

At last we let go, longing and panting for air. We looked at each other smiling and we started laughing. Giggling. I couldn't believe we had just kissed that way. It was weird in some ways. But It felt good. Really good.

"Oh Koala" he said, still giggling. "I wanted to do this for so long… I thought you didn't feel this way".

It was true. My behavior towards him before knowing about Ace's death was a bit, how could I say it, irritating. I was always yelling at him. His refined manners put me on my nerves, his personality made me mad in many things. And I didn't bother to hide it from him. We were always fighting each other, yelling at each other, arguing... But it was just something we had always did. It was our way to show we cared for each other. But just as friends, as that is what we had always been. Until now.

"I didn't know I felt this way until last week. When you… When I saw you…" I couldn't put it into words. His pain, his screams, his cries…

"It's ok…" He said. "I'm glad".

I looked at him quizzically. _Glad?_ For what?

He answered me. "I'm glad you feel this way too."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for everyone who is reading this fanfic! I really apreciate it. And the ones who are following me or this story thank you very much! I'd apreciate if you could post some reviews and let me know if you liked it! I hope I'll write more chapters when I have time!**

Ch 3.

In the morning, I woke up and saw Sabo staring at me with amusement on his face. He was trying to hold a laugh. "What?"

"You were so funny tonight" I didn't like where this was going. What did I do that was so funny? I waited for him to explain.

"You were mumbling incoherent things. Afterwards you said something like 'go to hell' and then you started snoring so loud with your mouth wide open, you looked like a monster hahahahahah" he started laughing so much. I was getting really angry. "You even had slobber dripping all over your face hahahahhaha it was hilarious"

I couldn't stand it anymore, I threw myself over him and started hitting him, "You wanna know what you look like when you sleep? Huh? You look like a stupid ogre who's about to get beaten." He then started laughing even more trying in vain to stop my punches. "If you don't like how I sleep then I won't sleep with you anymore you moron!"

Not even seeing how, suddenly I was under him, my hands on either side of my face immobilized by his. He was pinning me onto the bed. I tried to get him off me but it was useless. He was so damn strong, I made a promise to myself to train even harder so this things wouldn't happen to me anymore.

"I said you looked like a monster" He was inches away from my mouth. "I didn't say I didn't liked it" And then that small space between us disappeared as he reached out to kiss my lips.

I pushed him away and rejoiced at his surprise look. "Stupid" I called him. I caught him unaware and pinned him down on the bed as I put myself over him. We had changed places. Who was the boss now huh? "I also like your stupid ogre face" and then it was me initiating the kiss. And this time no one pushed the other away. He tangled his hands on my hair not letting me go. It was still weird to think I was kissing Sabo, and we sure as hell didn't know what we were doing. Our lips explored the others as if founding new land to discover. But it felt good. It was intimate. It made me feel closer to him than anything we could have said to eachother.

I was still on top of him, about to get off the bed to face a new day of work to do when he stopped me. "Wait" he said. He raised himself and we were both sitting on the bed, me on top of him. "I just wanna…" he paused and breathed heavily. "…stay like this for a while" and he reached forward so our foreheads collided. I closed my eyes. Just feeling.

"How much about us do the crew know?" He asked me. "They don't know anything as far as I know. I've been careful not to be seen when I come to your bedroom at night. And when they see me in the morning they just think I'm taking care of you since you're sick. They're worried about your well-being."

"So they don't know you come here to sleep?" He asked again. "I don't think so, no" He exhaled noisily. "Well, I think that's for the better. I don't want them to start teasing us, it would be awkward."

"Yeah, I agree" I said. "It's better to keep it a secret, at least until we figure out what's going on between us. And If something goes wrong it would be troublesome to explain to our crewmates so it's better if they don't know anything from the beginning."

I saw him frown a little at what I just said but he hid it quickly and said "yes".

"Well then, I'll go out first and say you're feeling better and then you can come out, ok?" I said finally breaking contact with him and getting off the bed. I started to change my clothes while he jumped out of bed and started changing as well. I was about to open the door when he stopped me. His body and the door, a prison impossible to escape. "Before you leave…" And he kissed me again, this time tenderly, sweetly, like a butterfly. And just like that I was out of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone who's reading this story! Just want to say some things... I don't write very often but when I do I put my whole heart in it. I'd love to hear what you think of my story, and get reviews! I'd really love to hear from the people who's reading this.**

 **This chapter is not finished... I was thinking the other day I just wanted to write and this came out.. and even though it's not finished I just thought I would post it for anyone who wants to read it... 'cause even a small update is something when you're really looking forward to read more of a story! Trust me I know...**

 **Anyway.. that's all! Hope you enjoy! I'm probably gonna be writing more soon!**

 **P.S. Thanks for everyone who has left a review and who has favourited my story! it means a lot to me!**

Ch4

"Koala" somebody called me while I was getting food from the kitchen. Our cooks had prepared some pancakes with red berries and chocolate syrup. YAAAY my favorite I thought! I sat down on the table by myself to just enjoy the meal when I heard Kiro call me. Damn it. They won't even let me eat in peace! He sat in front of me without asking.

"Great pancakes huh?" I just nodded with my mouth full. "so… how is Sabo? You're the only one who has seen him since he became sick. What happened to him?"

"Heo's grretiuung beooetterou noouoow" [he's getting better now] I said keeping chewing my amazingly delicious food. I didn't want to be bothered by anyone at this moment.

Seeing that he didn't move away and was expecting more from me. I swallowed and stopped eating much to my disappointment and repeated myself.

"He's feeling better now, he's probably gonna come out today and you'll get to ask him all the questions you want." And with that I started eating and gave him a look that said. "Leave me alone right now and let me eat". He seemed to understand it and left me to myself again. Later I thought that maybe, everybody asking Sabo how was he feeling wasn't the best thing to do… he must still be feeling pain. And then I remembered how he was laughing at my sleeping face this morning and all my concerns flew away like leaves in the wind. If he could laugh at me he could take his crewmates with their questions.

That reminded me… I needed to train today. I need to improve my strength so that Sabo cannot get me that easily. I blushed just thinking about both of us in bed this morning. A part of me was so excited about it, so nervous at the thought of just seeing him today and having to pretend like nothing changed, but I was scared too. What were we doing? We're in the revolutionary army, we don't have time for this nonsense, we are defying the whole world, we're fighting the big guys now.

Lost in my thoughts I saw Sabo enter the dining room. The moment he entered Kiro was all over him, talking so fast as he usually does. "Sabo, you ok?, we were so worried, what happened, are you still hurt? Do you need anything? Can I get you something?"

He was such a Sabo fan. He was all over him all the time. He was only 10 years old when Sabo saved him from the evil guys that were using him. He had an unhuman super-strengh. Sabo taught him how to properly use it in a fight and how to protect himself. So the kid had grown too fond of him of course. It was cute to see them though. I kept eating as I watched Sabo calm the boy, my mouth turning into a smile involuntarily.

Then he saw me. I turned my head away blushing so hard I thought my blood had abandoned my body completely and taken refugee only in my face. Damn it… why was I so easy to blush?

I didn't dare to look at him again for a few minutes and when I did he was already gone. I exhaled half in relief half in disappointment. Oh man… this was turning me nuts.

I didn't see him anymore the whole morning. I made my mind to finish all the work I had left behind so that I wouldn't have enough space in my head to think about him. Though it didn't work completely I got a tone of work done which was nice. I read all the reports that came from Dressrosa. It was weird. Some of the reports where signed by people whom I had never met in my entire life. Who were this people? Something wasn't right in that island. We had to go there and discover what that Doflamingo was doing behind his disguise. And get a hold of his arms of course… that was the main reason for all of this.

In the afternoon I trained as I promised myself I would do. I'm trying to learn this new technique that involves a lot of strength and concentration. Hack is helping me with it. It involves a lot of fish man karate skills. I was doing great avoiding all his punches and kicks until I saw Sabo talking to somebody and I got distracted. Hack made a quick round kick around my feet and I fell butt on the floor.

"Ouch ouch ouch…" I complained touching my butt where it hurt the most.

Hack looked at me with a severe look. "Koala, you need to improve your reflexes. Usually this doesn't happen to you. What's gotten into your head?"

I immediately looked at Sabo who was laughing at me so hard. God damn it. He was pointing at me while saying to the guy next to him: "did you see her? Hahahaha OMG that was so funny"

"KOALA" He screamed at me "HOW'S YOUR BUTT?" and kept laughing his heart off.

Oh I was so mad! I could have killed him in that moment. I got up with as much dignity as I could afford and left without a word.

I had dinner alone still mad at him. How many times could he make fun of me? And this was all his fault anyway.

I decided he could sleep by himself tonight. I missed my room anyway.

I fell into my bed the second I entered the room. This whole thing with Sabo was just exhausting my mind. I fell asleep for a while and when I woke up it was already dark and I couldn't hear any more of the usual chatter of the crewmates before they went to bed. I thought of Sabo and I imagined him in his room, all alone. Maybe he was thinking of Ace and his little brother, what was his name again? Luffy I think. Wait… wasn't he Robin's captain? The Strawhat… yes I think he was her captain. Anyway. He must be feeling alone right now. Maybe I should have gone with him. After all, I got mad for such a silly thing. But I have my pride. Should I go now? No… I think it's better if I just stay here… tomorrow is going to be another day… But I want to see him…

And I heard a knock on the door.

Oh god… is it him? Who could it be if not him?

I got up to open the door. And there he was again. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.

"So… are you mad at me?" He asked.

"Yes… No… I mean… I was… I think I'm not anymore."

He closed the door grabbed my face with his hands and kissed me. We moved out of the door still kissing passionately. We fell on the bed but he continued on top of me as if nothing had happened. Never stopping the contact between our lips. Or at least that's how it felt. My mind was going blank now. I was completely lost. Dizzy even. But my lips couldn't help but respond at his delicious touch.

"Koala" he said, finally letting me breath. "I'm sorry I laughed at you" and he smiled playfully pretending concern. That smiled made me remind why I got mad at him before. "Asshole" I told him. "Now I'm mad at you again" He laughed at my response. "Oh come on… It was too funny. I could not help but laugh. Is your butt feeling any better?" He said still laughing. Probably picturing my fall again.

"How can you go from kissing me like that to making fun of me so fast? Are you bipolar or what?"

"Hahahahha! I just needed to kiss you so badly. I've been waiting for this moment the whole day. I couldn't wait until I had you in my bed tonight. But then you didn't come and I got worried. And your room is so close to the living room where everybody just chill and talk before going to sleep I had to wait for a long time until the last one went to bed so they didn't see me go into your room. And between all that time I could just picture me kissing you again and again. Now that I did, I can go back to normal."

"And here I was, getting all worried that you were actually painfully crying again all alone in your room. I should have known better. After all I'm talking to a complete pervert."

"Well… I have to say, today wasn't easy. But thinking of you made it easier. I'm done crying though. I need to focus on more important things. Ace would have wanted me to look after Luffy if he knew I was alive. So I need to make sure he's ok. And I cannot just abandon all of you. I'm still part of the Revolutionary Army. Even though I feel like a new person I don't regret being in the Revolutionary Army. Actually… I feel our purpose is even stronger now that I remember my hometown and everything wrong with it."


	5. Chapter 5

**Allright everybody... here's another little update I just wrote. Your reviews give me life.**

 **This one is a little silly. I hope you enjoy it!**

 **(I also want to clear out that English is not my first language, so there might be some spelling or grammar errors. If there are let me know and I'll try to fix it.)**

 **Thanks again for everyone who is reading!**

 **Important: You should go back to the last chapter to remember what was going on.. i kinda left that chapter unfinished and this is just the continuation.**

"Do you remember how you got out of there?... When Dragon brought you here… I remember you being hurt pretty badly. Some of the crew didn't think you were going to make it. You were so young…" I looked at the scar on his face and suddenly felt the need to caress it again.

"I don't remember exactly what happened… I just know I wanted to be a pirate, Ace Luffy and me… we all promised we would be pirates and sail the seas. I can remember now when we first heard Luffy say he was going to be the Pirate King." He laughed remembering. "Ace and I were so shocked. Hahahahahah. I can't wait to see him accomplish his dream. I don't have a doubt in my heart that he will make it." He said smiling. His story was warming my heart.

"Anyway, something happened that made me realize I couldn't stay there any longer and I took a small boat and left. I remember…" he said closing his eyes as if trying to concentrate. "a huge… ship… and fire… fire everywhere… and I was… drowning. And then I woke up in Dragon's ship. That's about it. All I could remember when I awoke was that, no matter what, I couldn't go back to my parents. I would have died rather than go back. And now that I remember them, I can totally understand why. My parents were… They are the reason why we are fighting. They are the example of everything that's wrong in this world. Dragon… He saved my life and he gave me a purpose. I'll be eternally grateful to him."

"Yeah… Dragon is great." I said, Sabo nodding with his head, agreeing with me. "I guess you can't expect anything less than greatness from his son too huh?"

"What?¿?" Said Sabo all confused. "What what?" I asked, not following…

"Dragon has a son?"

"Wait what?!..." I exclaimed not believing it. "You don't know anything about Dragon's son?!"

"I can't believe he has a son! Who is he?"

"LUFFY!" I yelled, still in shock.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! LUFFY IS DRAGON'S SON¿?!" His eyes big as ping pong balls, his eyebrows could almost reach his hair, and his mouth was so open I could see his tonsils.

"Yes! Hahahahha!" I said starting to laugh at the surrealism of the situation. "I can't believe you didn't know! It was everywhere on the newspapers!"

"Luffy is Dragon's son?…" He repeated as if trying to convince himself. "Luffy is Dragon's son…."

"Yes he is!" I just couldn't stop laughing at this point. His face, his reaction… Oh my god!

"But… how… what in the… I just…"

"Ok Sabo… relax" I said still laughing. "Luffy is Dragon's son, he has never talked about him but he confirmed it to Iva-san so it's true. He knows about your relationship with him. I had to report to him about what happened to you. He didn't say anything about luffy though. I guess they don't have a very close relationship."

"Yeah… Luffy didn't know who were his parents when we were kids. We only knew that Garp was his grandpa. Oh my god. Then that means that Dragon is Garp's son! What kind of weird family is that?!"

"I know!"

He couldn't believe any of this. He felt silent for a moment just absorbing all the information. It was really late at night at this point and I was starting to feel really tired. There were no noises from the outside. I thought we might have woken up somebody from the crew with how much we were shouting right now. But I guess not.

"Ok Sabo." I told him lying in the bed and putting the blanket over me. "You can think about all of this while I sleep. Now I need my beauty sleep."

He laid down next to me too and pulled me closer so my head was resting on his shoulder.

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep… All that was too much."

"Yeah well… As long as you don't wake me up."

"No" He laughed softly "I'll just look at you the whole time."

"Then how am I supposed to fall asleep?"

"Not my problem". He said. Jerk. I still closed my eyes and started to fall.

After a few minutes trying to sleep I opened one eye to see if he was still looking at me or he went to sleep too. And of course, It was number one.

"Creep" I told him, and closed my eyes again.

And then I fell asleep, feeling safe and secured and not creeped out at all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's a new chapter! Somebody left a review and made me want to write a little bit more. It's a short chapter but whatever.. better this than nothing. This one is quite more serious than the last one. And I have a question to ask you, how would you feel about the story going a bit more mature? Would you like to keep it "T" or develop it to "M"? I've never written any smut so it could be fun... I don't know... Maybe I'll keep this one T and then post some chapters separately. Don't know... Any thoughts?**

I had a nightmare one night. I have plenty of those. They are usually the same. I see myself as a little girl, a slave. Sometimes I'm trapped and they beat me up. Sometimes I try to escape and they get to me and punish me. Sometimes they kill me and I wake up sweating. This one was different though. It was the current me, not a little girl, and I was alone. I kept running to find if there was anybody anywhere. But no luck. I was completely and utterly alone. But then I heard a voice. _Koala_. So I followed it. I ran and ran and ran. And then I could see Sabo surrounded by men and women who were beating him up making him do any stupid thing they pleased. They were treating him as a slave. He was a slave. I could see the mark on his face, covering his eye. He was suffering. There was blood running down from the injuries the masters were placing on him. I saw him falling to the floor exhausted and suddenly he looked up and saw me and whispered "Koala". Nobody could see me but him. But I couldn't move. And I couldn't scream. I was completely paralyzed. I wanted to run to him but I just couldn't. And he started screaming my name. "KOALA! KOALA!" He was reaching his hand to me, trying to get to me, but I didn't move. Then one of the masters put a gun on his head. "This one is not useful to us anymore". And pulled the trigger.

I opened my eyes. My heart beating so fast I could feel it. I looked at Sabo to make sure he was ok. He was not. He was moving around in his sleep, restless. He was making weird noises, I couldn't understand any words but he looked like he was suffering, that's what must have activated my nightmare. I shook him awake as gentle as I could.

"Sabo… Sabo you're having a nightmare, wake up."

He woke up with a burst. Breathing heavily. Confused. It looked like he didn't know where he was or who he was.

"Sabo… are you ok?" I asked, worried about him.

"Yeah.. I guess. It was just a nightmare". He said going back to his senses.

"What was it about?"

"Ace…"

"Oh Sabo… I'm sorry." I hugged him.

"It's allright. I'm allright." More trying to convince himself than me. "Hey, are you ok?" He asked breaking our hug. "You're all sweaty…"

"Yeah… I had a nightmare too. And it's still very vivid in my head. Really felt like I was living it."

"Were you being enslaved again?" He's been there for most of my nightmares, so he knows about them obviously.

"No… you were."

"Me?"

"Yeah… they killed you in the end…"

"Damn…" He looked at me concerned, it was his turn to worry about me. "I'm here Koala. I'm not going anywhere."

"You better!" I said teasing him. We needed to lighten the mood.

"I promise." He said all serious. Not lightening the mood at all. Whatever.

We were so close to each other. I suddenly felt our bodies together, his eyes watching mine with a solemn gaze, and I was very aware of the electricity his touch would stimulate in my skin.

"Sabo…"

He kissed me so tenderly; he caressed me with his lips. As if I was a fragile feather abut to be swept away with the wind. He was so soft, so gentle. No rush, no strength. His fingertips wandering around my belly pulling up a little bit of my shirt. I needed the reassurance of his body against mine so I put both my hands on either side of his face and deepened the kiss making him realize that I was ok with things going a little farther. Not too much though. We needed to take things slow. We were very new to this after all, and very inexperienced.

"We should try to sleep" He said after a kiss.

"MMhm" I nodded. I placed my head on his chest and closed my eyes hoping for a better dream.


	7. Chapter 7

(So appearantly there was a problem with the format of the writing... thank you to Lunas-paradox for pointing it out.. I hadn't realized before).

Anyway, here is another chapter! Hope you enjoy it. I'm already writing the next one so the wait won't be so long.

(I recommend reading the previous chapter to follow what's going on.)

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Luckily I concentrated enough to read half way through all the paperwork I had been leaving behind. After an hour or so I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in".

A colleague entered and approached me. He said Dragon-san had summoned me and expected me at his office as soon as I could. I thanked the man as he was closing the door behind him. What would Dragon-san want now? Maybe he's going to scold me for my lack of work lately… ashhh… I put all the papers back at their places and went to the boss's office.

Now it was my turn to knock on the door.

"You asked to see me Dragon-san?" I asked politely.

"Yes, come in Koala". He said with his grave voice.

I looked at his face, he didn't seem too displeased. His face was always this serious. I think I've never even seen him smile. But I have seen him angry and that is not something you want to witness. Right now he was pretty normal so I calmed myself down thinking nothing was really wrong.

"I have a mission for you". Oh a mission. Nice! I haven't had a real mission in a while, this was just what I needed, a few months to get away from Sabo and I'll be able to think things through without him stepping into my shoes every step of the way.

"Whatever you need Sir". I answered interested.

"Koala, I need you to go to Sabaody Island and infiltrate as a slave smuggler. Find out where they get their arms from. See if it has anything to do with Doflamingo. I think the Tenryuubito might also be involved in this arm traffic, see if you can get information from them by disguising as a slave seller. You can free as many slaves as you can. Ask them if they want to join us. We also need new recruits."

"Yes Sir." I answered excitedly. "When am I leaving?"

"As soon as you get all the preparations for the journey. Oh, and you won't be going alone Koala, it's too dangerous to send just one person alone. I'm sending Sabo with you. You two seem to work very well together and Sabo needs a mission to get distracted from that horrible situation with Fire Fist Ace. Be sure to look after each other and don't disappoint me."

As soon as he had said Sabo's name I hoped he couldn't see the slight change in my face. I tried to stay as professional as I could.

"Of course. I'll start the preparations this very afternoon". As I closed the door of Dragon's office I finally let myself freak out about the whole situation.

Whhhhaaat… Sabo is coming with me?¿? For God's Saake. It's gonna be the two of us for a long time. How are we even gonna do anything? If we can't seem to either take our hands off from each other or snap at each other. This is gonna end very bad. Maybe I should put a stop to it right before we leave. That way we can just focus on our mission. Yes… I think that's for the best. I'm going to talk to him right now and end this.

So with that in mind I roamed around the ship looking for him.

I ended up finding him all by himself in the deck keeping an eye on the horizon. I approached him.

"Hey Sabo"

"Koala" He said very stern.

"I need to talk to you, can we go somewhere more private?"

"Sure" He looked mad.

I led him to my office, we wouldn't be bothered there. We kept silent all the way there. The tension between us got higher and higher.

When we reached the office and closed it he snapped.

"Koala, what happened? Is something wrong? Why were you so angry with me this morning?"

"Nothing's wrong". I answered quickly. "It's just that my head was somewhere else…" He looked at me and I could totally see skepticism through his eyes. I didn't know how to start this. "Have you talked to Dragon-san?"

"Yes, that was what I had to tell you this morning when you started insulting me for no reason."

"Oh… well… the thing is… Sabo if we have to be together in this I think it best we leave our personal situation aside and just focus on completing the mission."

"What does that mean?"

I didn't want to say this aloud…

"It means stop sleeping in the same bed, stop sneaking around to kiss, stop acting as a couple because we are not, and this only interferes with our work. We need to be professional."

I looked at him expecting some kind of reaction. But there was none. I have to admit that this hurt me. I was expecting him to show disappointment of some kind, even sadness. Guess I didn't really mean that much to him.

"All right" He said finally. _Allright?_ Ok… Perfect.

"All right" I answered him back. "Gather everything you need, we leave tomorrow at dawn."

He nodded his head and left without saying anything else.

Well… This went better than I thought actually. I didn't have to explain myself too much, it didn't seem like I was breaking his heart which would have made me feel really bad… but still, he could've showed a little bit more of emotion. Whatever, I need to prepare for the trip. I went to look for a Sabaody log pose, gathered my clothes and food for the journey.

At bed I started thinking if I had made the right decision. I have made the right decision right? This is for the better… Yes. I'm sure of it. But am I? Yes, Yes. Stop thinking about it Koala and go to sleep. And with all this running inside my head I ended up falling asleep, nervous about the journey that was awaiting me the next day.


	8. Chapter 8

Another silly chapter! Hope you like it!

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The small ship was already prepared when I got there. Sabo must have woken up very early to do this. I asked him if he needed anything else I was going to go for the last time to the deck to say goodbye to everybody. He said he didn't need anything and that he had already said goodbye, he was just waiting for me. I gave him a nod and hurried to say goodbye to all my colleagues. I wouldn't see them for a long time after all. Everybody wished us good luck and advised as not to fight too often. Which I found hard to accomplish. But what Hack said stayed with me. Look after him… He might look as if he's fine. But I think he's still hurting. Yesterday night he looked very pale… I don't know if something happened to him. Still, take care of each other will you? I could only answer with a smile. Sure.

As we said goodbye at the top of our new little deck I could see everyone getting smaller and smaller until fading away in the horizon.

Our little ship thankfully had two rooms below deck plus a storage area where we kept our food and supplies.

Sabo and I kept talking about the plans for the mission. How we were going to infiltrate and the details of our meetings with the Tenryuubito had to be very carefully planned. Still we had a few weeks before arriving to Sabaody, we had plenty of time.

But for the whole day we didn't talk about us. Us. There is no us now… so I don't even need to worry about it. That was the whole point right?

As we finished planning for the mission I excused myself to my room. I closed my door and started reading one of the books I took with me. While we were not discussing the mission or driving the ship it was easier to just avoid him than to be with him and try to make conversation about trivial things.

And we spent most of our journey like this, avoiding each other. Only talking when completely necessary.

This wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I mean… We were friends after all. It was easier, sure… But still, I missed my friend. In other situations I would talk to him about my personal stuff, but since my personal stuff was about him I didn't know what to do. And I had no one else to confide in. Jeez… What a mess. I couldn't concentrate like this either.

I went over deck to check on the course of the ship. As I climbed the ladder I felt the air swift. It's going to rain. Sabo was already tightening up the sails. I hurried and helped him. The first rain drop fell on top of my face. I looked up at the sky and this huge lightning lighted up the sky. Suddenly huge rocks of ice started falling dawn. Fuck. If we get hit by one of this we are done for.

"KOALA" I heard Sabo scream. "Make sure to keep the ship straight on the course, I'll make sure the rocks don't hit the ship". I didn't second guess and head to the helm as quickly as I could. From there I saw Sabo jumping and punching each of the ice cubes with his strong fists. He was something to see. So fast, one by one, the rocks disintegrated after his punches. The sea kept getting rougher and rougher. Water started pouring into the deck. I had to use all the strength I had not to let the ship sink. The thunder was deafening me. I screamed as I turned the wheel over. COME OOOOON! WE CAN DO THIIIS!

Slowly our ship started to sail away from the storm. As soon as the ice rocks stopped falling I let my body fall onto the floor exhausted. "Few… That was close…" I said. I saw Sabo panting. But he had a smile on his face.

"That was fun!" He was grinning like a child.

"What?" I whispered, not believing the words I was hearing "We could've died!"

"Oh Come on Koala, it'll take much more than that for you and me to go to the other side".

I chuckled. "You're unbelievable" I said. But still I was smiling. It's true, I had to admit the storm had been exciting. And Sabo and I were laughing together again. Now I had to thank the storm for that.

"And besides…" I heard him whispering "I wouldn't mind going to the other side with you"

"What?" I didn't hear him correctly as a thunder of the storm we just left behind still roared around us.

"Nothing" He dismissed as if it was nothing important so I didn't pay much attention to it.

"Sabo…"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I've been acting so weird. Avoiding you… I guess I just… miss my friend." He smiled the sweetest smile ever and even my heart seemed to notice it too. "Can we still be friends?"

"Of course"

I smiled back at him.

"Great because… I was just reading this book that I LOOOVE so much! You need to read it Sabo! It's about a marine who reunites with his daughter after 7 years and almost doesn't recognize her but in the end she tells him she is a pirate now and everything starts to get messed up! And I just need you to read it so we can talk about it! Pleaseeeeeeee! Please please please please!

"Ok… here we go…" Sabo looked at me with a knowing look. "You always get so excited with books… it's so funny! Ok, I'll read it, but don't give me any more spoilers!"

"YAAAAY"

And so we end up our trip talking about the book and keeping each other company. And everything seemed to get back to normal. For now.


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